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With Election Day on the horizon, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick paid a visit to San Angelo on his latest tour of the Lone Star State. He had a brief news conference Wednesday morning at Ranger Aviation as rain poured down at Mathis Field.

"We are kicking off our official fall run for this campaign," Patrick said. "... We hit six cities yesterday, from Corpus (Christi) to El Paso, and we are continuing our campaign into mid-size cities and rural Texas, because I wanted to send a strong message, and I know Gov. Abbott feels the same way."

Patrick emphasized the importance of cities such as San Angelo and the rural outlying towns to the overall economy of the state, and he talked about Texas' place in the world economy and education.

"We are now the 10th-largest economy in the world, and we have — if not the lowest unemployment rate in the history of the state — then one of the lowest ever, and we have more jobs than we have people to fill them," he said.

"And that's why the other area we have focused on is career tech. ... We want to have the greatest career tech programs in the country.

Patrick said he wants to make sure Texas students have an affordable pathway to higher education, whether its a four-year degree or vocational certificate.

He spoke about border security and talked about money and measures put in place to curb illegal entry into the country, pointing out the chief concern is keeping violent criminals from other countries from illegally relocating here.

Patrick said in the next four years he wants to focus on school security, improving education and career tech and growing jobs, reducing property taxes and trying to get every teacher in the state a $10,000 raise.

Patrick said in pre-conference interview that he enjoyed his overnight stay in town, and as a Maryland native he found the crab cakes at the Peasant Village restaurant on Park Street were second to none.

He said the first time he came to San Angelo was in the late 1970s as a sportscaster working out of Houston, when he was sent here to cover the Houston Oilers' training camp at Angelo State University.